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DEPRESSION AND SLEEP IN CANCER CAREGIVERS Principal Investigator: Patricia Carter, PhD, RN This study explores the relationship between sleep patterns and the development of, or change in, depressive symptoms over time in ten female spousal caregivers of persons with advanced lung cancer. The study also explores strategies for recruiting subjects from African American backgrounds to determine their needs for and acceptance of health promotion interventions targeting family caregivers of people with cancer so that culturally appropriate interventions can be developed. The questions being addressed are: (1) How do family caregiver sleep patterns and depression levels change over a 10 week period, and (2) How are these two variables related over this time period? Continuous, noninvasive sleep pattern measurement in the home setting is being recorded with an Actigraph for 3 different 72-hour periods. Weekly phone calls from the study staff are being used to obtain sleep quality and depression levels through use of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression -CESD measurement. STATUS: Data Analysis, Spring 2002 Dr. Carter will present preliminary results of the study at the 27th Annual Oncology Nursing Society Congress in Washington, DC, on April 19, 2002. 'Chronic Sleep Loss in Family Caregivers:Is Depression An Outcome?' You may read articles that relate to this study in the publications listed below. Chang,
B., Carter, P., & Brecht, M. L. (2001). Types of social support and
caregiver outcomes. Carter,
P. (2001). A not so silent cry for help: Older female cancer caregivers
need for information. Carter, P. (April, 2002). Sleep disturbance and depression. In M. Hass (ed.) Contemporary Issues in Lung Cancer. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett. Invited book chapter. Clark,
A., & Carter, P. (In press 2002). Why do nurses see families as trouble? Carter, P. (In review). Caregiver's descriptions of sleep changes and depressive symptoms. |